The lower house of Bosnia’s Parliament is supposed to vote on the urgently needed changes to the country’s Law on Criminal Procedures on Wednesday. If not passed by May, hundreds of investigations into terrorism and organized crime police and the intelligence agency has conducted will be jeopardized.

Lawmakers failed to adopt the amendments proposed by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in March because the proposal did not get enough votes from Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb-dominated sub-state. A second round does not require a two-third majority from Republika Srpska.  

The Constitutional Court declared some the law’s articles addressing the process of granting immunity from legal prosecution, physical search and special investigative procedures unconstitutional in 2016 and gave lawmakers six months to adopt adequate changes. The parliamentarians have been dragging their feet on the issue and the court said it will in May declare the parts ruled illegal invalid.  

Now the Parliament is rushing to meet at least that new deadline. A new proposal from the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) will be on the agenda on Wednesday. The HDZ also voted against the first proposal.